S'mores... S'nuff Said

Did you go to camp and make s'mores with all of your friends?  I did and I just loved them.  My parents also would let us make them in the winter time.  They would light a fire in our fireplace and bring out the HERSHEY's chocolate candy bars with Graham Crackers and marshmallows.  My sisters, cousins and I would take the sticks, sit on the freezing cold floor and warm ourselves up by toasting the marshmallows.  My middle sister liked hers golden brown but my mom and I made ours burnt.  Anyways, I digress.
I found this delicious recipe for S'mores Sandwich Bar Cookies off of the HERSHEY's website.   They can be made ahead of time and served for dessert.  I love them because you get the same great taste without all of the mess. One of my friend's mothers made these for a summer BBQ dessert and everyone went wild for them.  I hope you like them as much as I do!




S'mores Sandwich Bar Cookies
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 C. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 C. flour
3/4 C. graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
5 HERSHEY's Milk Chocolate Bars (1.55 oz each)
3 C. miniature marshmallows


Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 8 inch square baking pan (I doubled the recipe and made it in a bigger pan).
Beat butter and sugar until well blended in large bowl.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well.  Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture until blended.  

Press half of dough in prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Place chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit.  

Sprinkle with marshmallows; scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer. 

Bake 10 to 15 minutes or just until lightly browned.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Cut into bars.  
Makes 16 bars.

Printer Friendly Version:

S'mores Sandwich Bar Cookies

1/2 C. (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 C. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/3 C. flour

3/4 C. graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

5 HERSHEY's Milk Chocolate Bars (1.55 oz each)

3 C. miniature marshmallows

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 8 inch square baking pan (I doubled the recipe and made it in a bigger pan).

Beat butter and sugar until well blended in large bowl.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well.  Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture until blended.  Press half of dough in prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Place chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit.  Sprinkle with marshmallows; scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer.  Bake 10 to 15 minutes or just until lightly browned.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Cut into bars.  

Makes 16 bars.

Storecipe of the Week: Ruth's Sweet and Sour Meatballs

When a majority of people think about meatballs, they think of spaghetti and meatballs, with the traditional Italian flair.  I have noticed that many Jewish recipe are very similar to Italian recipe but with added sweetness.  For example, Jew's always joke that Kugel is really Jewish Lasagna.  Sweet and sour meatballs are very similar to Italian meatballs but with a sweet and sour tomato sauce.  Most Italian grandmothers would roll off their rockers if they tasted them as they would probably feel that the sauce has been ruined!  With that being said, they really are surprisingly delicious.  They are best served over rice or noodles for an entree or as an appetizer, they can be made into smaller balls and served with bread.


Belinda, from Highland Park, Illinois, put it best when she said that her "bittersweet memory is actually sweet and sour".  Here is Belinda's story and her mother, Ruth's recipe, which my family raved about.  Thanks, Belinda! 


Ruth's Sweet and Sour Meatballs
I guess my bittersweet memories are actually sweet and sour. Most of my mom's recipes I've had to approximate, because I don't remember exactly how she made them, and there are no written recipes as far as I know. In fact, I can't remember there ever having been a cookbook in our home. She had her recipes committed to memory and cooked in that intuitive, non-scientific way that many good cooks of an earlier era did. Her sweet and sour meatballs were my absolute favorite dish and one day, many, many years ago, I followed Mom around the kitchen taking notes while she prepared them. 
Mom's meatballs are delicious and smell great while cooking.  In fact, the aroma is intoxicating and takes me back to my childhood and my mom's kitchen. Moreover, this is a pretty healthful recipe, calling for all natural ingredients and no fillers. My daughter, Laura (Loritchka), makes them using ground turkey with much success. It works as either an appetizer or an entree, depending on how generous you are with the meatballs. Best to have fresh challah bread on hand for dunking in the sauce!


Thoughts
1 C. diced carrots 
1 C. diced onions 
2 T. olive oil 
2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans stewed tomatoes 
1/2 tsp. salt 
1/4 tsp. pepper 
1/2 tsp. garlic powder 
1 lb. ground beef 
1 egg 
1/2 tsp dried onion flakes 
1 onion, grated 
1/2 C. diced celery
1/2 C. sugar 
1/4 C. lemon juice


Putting the Memory Together
Place oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Saute carrots and onions until soft, about 5 minutes.  

Add 2 cans of stewed tomatoes with juice. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder; you can add more or less according to taste. Let simmer.

To ground beef, add egg, dried onion flakes, grated onion and celery. Wet hands and form small meatballs (about 1 inch balls) and drop in simmering sauce. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. 

Then add sugar and lemon juice. Stir and taste the sauce.  You may add more sugar or lemon juice to adjust the sweet/sour flavor to your taste. Cook for another 15 - 20 minutes.

Storecipe of the Week: Jewish Biscotti aka Mandel Bread

Mandelbrot, which literally means almond (mandel) bread (brot), is a twice-baked hard bread similar to Italian biscotti.  According to Jewish Cooking in America, "With a large Jewish population in Piedmont, Italy may have been the place where Jews first tasted biscotti and later brought them to Eastern Europe.  In Italy they are often eaten as a dessert dipped into wine or grappa. In Eastern Europe, Jews dipped them into a glass of tea, and because they include no butter and are easily kept they became a good Sabbath dessert" (Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 p. 354).

Growing up, mandel bread was a staple in our house, especially around the Jewish Holidays.  My mother's friend, Paula always made the best kind with chocolate chips and a ton of cinnamon and sugar.  Paula would bring over a HUGE batch and we would eat some and then freeze the rest.  We wanted to have it for as long as possible, so we would just take out a few pieces at a time to enjoy it throughout the next few months.  Today, I make Paula's mandel bread every year for the holidays.  When I bake it, my house smells like the good old days when my mother and I would be preparing for our own holiday dinners together.  I just love it.

I was so excited when I received a submission from Skokie, Illinois native, Charlotte, about her mother's mandel bread.  Charlotte shares a very sweet story with an incredible recipe.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Many, many years ago just before my Mom died, my mother-in-law wanted me to get her my mother's recipe for mandel bread. Well, everyone feels that they make the BEST mandel bread, but I have to say our entire family always thought that my Mom beat everyone else's by a mile. At this point, in 1975, I was married with one son and did some baking but I had never tried to make my mom's recipe. So I asked her for it and wrote it down for my mother-in-law. Well, of course she nor anyone else with the recipe could make it the way my mom did. Shortly thereafter, on May 18, 1976 my mom died. My daughter was born 8 days later and was named after my beloved mother. The mandel bread was the last thing on my mind at that time. A few years later I finally decided to give the recipe a try so I had to ask my mother-in-law for the recipe since I hadn't kept it for myself. Well, I guess there is something to be said for passing things down, because to this day I have been told by many, many people that I am the only one that can make the mandel bread the way my mom did and this is a very treasured memory for me.


Thoughts:
3 Eggs 
1 C. Sugar 
3/4 C. Vegetable Oil 
3 C. Flour 
1 Tsp. vanilla 
2 Tsp. Baking Powder 
1 tsp. Cinnamon 
6 oz. of Chopped Walnuts or Chocolate Chips
Extra Cinnamon and Sugar to dust 


Putting the Memory Together:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat togther (by hand) the eggs and sugar. Then add the oil. Next add the flour 1 cup at a time, reserving a little to use to sprinkle on the baking sheets. Add the vanilla, baking powder and a dash of cinnamon after the first cup of flour. Stir until well mixed. 

Then add the nuts and/or chocolate chips. 

Butter and flour two cookie sheets. You make four rows of dough - 2 on each sheet. 

Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar. 

Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned. 

Cut each loaf into single pieces, about 3/4" thick, and turn each one on its side.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Flip the cookie on its other side and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar again.  Bake for another 5 minutes.  Watch closely to make sure not to overcook. 

Storecipe of the Week: Jill's Sugar Cookies

As I have said before, cookies are my most favorite dessert in the world!  Whether they are oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, peanut butter, Oreo's or the classic sugar cookies, I just melt when I have them.  Every night before I go to bed, I need a cookie.  I know what all of you health nuts out there are thinking, "sugar before bed? She must be kidding"!  I know it's not recommended but I just can't help myself.  I am not fully satisfied, no matter how great my day was or how satisfying dinner was, until I get my cookie!  When I received this submission for sugar cookies, I was so excited!  Since I make everything that is submitted, I was thrilled to bake the cookies and have them for a few nights!  While I love Oreo's, there is nothing like a homemade cookie, or anything for that matter. With that being said, I present to you, Erin Waitz's beautiful story and yummy sugar cookies.


Story:
The taste was familiar, more familiar than I thought it would be. The memory of making sugar cookies with my mom, once a distant memory of the past, is now part of the present. As I took a bite of cookie dough I was surprised at the rush of memories. Even as a young child I would have to try the cookie dough, just to make sure my mom and I had really included all the ingredients (at least that’s what I told her). 


I asked my dad for the recipe that I had made with my mom during our short decade together, I could almost visualize the two of us sitting at the kitchen table mixing in the eggs and measuring out the flour before getting our hands messy when we balled up the dough. On special occasions I remembered my mom and I would use cookie cutters and sprinkles. Now, the smell of the baking cookies brings me back to my time with my mom. I anxiously await the 12 minutes to taste the final result, bracing for the memories that would flow over me when taking the first bite. As soon as the timer buzzed, I couldn’t wait to let a cookie cool, I immediately tried it and felt instant happiness. I successfully made my mom’s sugar cookies. For the first time I realized a memory of my past could create memories for my future.

Jill's Sugar Cookies
The Thoughts:
1 cup sugar plus some extra to sprinkle on top of cookies before serving
2 sticks butter, softened 
1 egg  
1/2 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp. vanilla 
1/4 tsp. salt  
1 tsp. light brown sugar
2 cups flour

Putting the Memory Together:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl.  

In a separate bowl, cream sugar, brown sugar and butter together with an electric mixer.  Add the egg and vanilla until well mixed and fluffy.

  Slowly add in the dry ingredients until well combined.

Shape spoonfuls of dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.

Using a drinking glass floured in the bottom, press down on dough to flatten fairly thin. 

Bake in 375 degree oven, on middle racks, for 12 minutes or until done. Dust with sugar if desired.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Printable version

Jill's Sugar Cookies

The Thoughts:

1 cup sugar plus some extra to sprinkle on top of cookies before serving

2 sticks butter, softened 

1 egg  

1/2 tsp. baking powder 

1 tsp. vanilla 

1/4 tsp. salt  

1 tsp. light brown sugar

2 cups flour

Putting the Memory Together:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, cream sugar, brown sugar and butter together with an electric mixer.  Add the egg and vanilla until well mixed and fluffy.  Slowly add in the dry ingredients until well combined.
Shape spoonfuls of dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Using a drinking glass floured in the bottom, press down on dough to flatten fairly thin. 
Bake in 375 degree oven for 12 minutes or until done. Dust with sugar if desired.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.